


Nothing Ever Changes

by lyn_writer



Series: Lyn's Songfics [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Based on a song, Fire Nation (Avatar), Gen, Gucci summary, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Inspired by Music, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Songfic, Very Creative Title yes?, You can't hurt me these shades are Gucci, haha anyway, idk where i went with this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25752232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyn_writer/pseuds/lyn_writer
Summary: "The world is falling downAnd nothing ever changes1, 2, 3 as the shots ring outBut nothing ever changes"Inspiration from "Nothing Ever Changes" by Nico Collins.
Relationships: Aang & Air Nomads (Avatar), Aang & Katara & Sokka, Aang & Katara (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), No Romantic Relationship(s), Nothing's implied anyway
Series: Lyn's Songfics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868146
Kudos: 5





	Nothing Ever Changes

**Author's Note:**

> I was reading ATLA fanfics while listening to music and I just kind of went crazy from there. Please listen to it, it is beautiful and I wish I was more eloquent to describe how amazing it is.
> 
> Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8He9lj45JP0

_I woke up in a modern world_

> (Two siblings happen upon a boy in an iceberg. By chance or by destiny, they happen upon a 12-year-old boy, somehow alive, within an icy, unintentional stasis. He shoots straight up in the air from a sneeze, the pair having to crane their necks up to watch him float down and gently land. 
> 
> The wide beam he gives them is white and youthful, pure, innocent, unaware. He’s incredibly cheerful for someone who’s been gone for 100 years, though no one knows that. Yet.)

_And there's nothing I can do_

> (Monk Gyatso’s remains look serene among the stark reds of the Fire Nation soldiers. He went out peacefully, it seemed. 
> 
> It does little to calm Aang down, though, as his arrow tattoos begin to glow white and the air shifts from a sorrowful breeze to a violent gust. His feet lift from the ground, and Sokka and Katara try to shout over the raging winds, but their voices are lost against the building sadness and confusion and anger and pain roaring in Aang’s chest. 
> 
> It hurts, and he wasn’t there. It hurts so much. He should’ve been there.)

_While I read the latest, from the breaking story on the news_

> (Breaking news: the Avatar’s alive. He’s alive, and a little kid at that. Zuko steams and remembers that age does not always equate to strength, especially in the Avatar’s case. 
> 
> While he’s miles away from the Fire Nation capital, he can still feel the countless gazes trained on him as he kneels, the icy fear that shoots through his system at facing not the general but his father, the pure horror as he laid his hand on Zuko’s face in the name of correcting his disrespect, the emotionless words said to him to capture the Avatar to "regain his honor". He absentmindedly touches his scar, then turns to shout at a passing crew member. 
> 
> He will capture the Avatar. He must.)

_People swear they say it's fake_

_And look up to our leader_

> (There is no war in Ba Sing Se. Really. Everything’s fine, it’s all okay. The Dai Li have got everything under control. No need to worry.
> 
> The Fire Nation? 
> 
> “Don’t say anything about the Fire Nation. The Dai Li will whisk you away to who knows where and they’ll do unspeakable things to you, I heard.” 
> 
> They cannot tear down the proud walls surrounding the city, much less three of them.
> 
> “You mustn’t speak of the war here, there are strict rules you have to obey. People get taken, only to come back with their minds wiped and spouting complete nonsense.” 
> 
> There is nothing wrong. 
> 
> Absolutely nothing.)

_As he speaks from a mind so bleak_

_He preys on his believers_

> (Glory is something that should be shared with the world, no? Everyday, the sun gifts the earth with its magnificent light. Doesn’t it make sense that the Fire Nation, too, should gift the other nations with its greatness? 
> 
> It’s what Fire Lord Sozin claimed. It’s what he told Avatar Roku. It’s what he sowed into the minds of his subjects. 
> 
> Somewhere along the line though, his words got twisted. It curled, burned, and shaped into something far uglier. 
> 
> A hunger for more, more, more, clawed its way into existence, a hunger for everything to turn to ash in a splendid show of yellow, orange, red.)

_Everyone's bitter, pointing their fingers_

_Seeing the worst in each other_

> (The world turned on the Fire Nation, everyone closing themselves off in protection. The Southern Water Tribe shrank drastically, its sister tribe shrouding itself in snow and ice. The Earth Kingdom remained strong, but cunning red began to slowly creep up on unsuspecting green. And the Air Temples, oh. Destroyed by a man’s greed and a nation’s power. The others watched on, in horror and fear of becoming next, at the massacre of an entire people.)

_But people are not, their skin, or their God_

_Or who they claim their lover_

> (Firebenders are ruthless and cruel, hotheaded and quick to burn. Waterbenders are constantly in motion, changing and never the same. Earthbenders are stubborn and unmoving in their thoughts and actions. Airbenders aren’t there; it’s like you’re reaching for something that simply doesn’t exist.
> 
> Benders are just like their element, right?)

_I think that people are made so unequal_

_Some are born good and some evil_

> (The rest of the nations will claim the bad guys to be, of course, the Fire Nation. The Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes insist they were only trying to shield their own by keeping to themselves and fighting by themselves. The Fire Nation will only say that they were trying to improve everyone’s lives through uniting the entire land. 
> 
> What do you do when each side truly believes they are doing the right thing?
> 
> War has no winners or losers, no victory nor defeat. 
> 
> It leaves only death and destruction on both ends.)

_And so here I pray, for one single day_

_We can live here peaceful_

> (Some clung to the faith that the Avatar would rescue them, hoping that the legend is not just some made-up tale. Some desperately wanted everything to end, for the Fire Nation to either fail or succeed already, so the fighting would finally be over. Some resigned themselves to this everlasting fate of fear and suffering, a void where their emotions used to be. But everyone prayed and desired and dreamed of living peacefully, with their wishes fulfilled and their prayers heard.
> 
> But you have to wake up from your dreams sooner or later.)

_12 more killed at a local bar_

_Some were only 21_

_But the NRA has bills to pay and feeds us with more guns_

> (An entire culture died because Sozin feared the Avatar’s reincarnation and power, taking down the Air Nomads during the Great Comet, later renamed in honor of this butchering. Aang’s people died while he was encased in ice, unknowing.
> 
> Zhao, in the name of the Fire Nation and to put his own in the history books, slaughters the moon spirit, Tui. To restore balance, Yue offers up her own life, having been saved by the moon spirit before as a baby and therefore retaining a connection to Tui. A life for a life.
> 
> Kya sacrificed herself for her daughter, and the Southern Water Tribe lost a strong, selfless woman among other individuals in multiple Fire Nation raids.
> 
> Driven by his hatred for the Fire Nation, Jet accuses Zuko and Iroh of being firebenders in Ba Sing Se, gets arrested and his memory erased, regains his memory, exposes the Dai Li’s operation under Lake Laogai, and eventually dies from internal injuries caused by Long Feng. 
> 
> They perished unfairly, but their legacies and memories live on.)

_So we send our thoughts and prayers_

_To those who lost their lives_

_But the cycle stays and in a couple of days_

_Bullets fly and a few more die_

> (Death is natural. Everyone must die eventually. Even the Avatar, as all-powerful as they may seem, must pass. But when those deaths are caused purposely, by hand; that is when sibling turns on sibling, nations are pitted against each other, and all seems lost. 
> 
> The dead are dead. They cannot rise and live as a normal human again. So many have been lost in the seemingly endless battle, but we grieve, and move on. 
> 
> And yet, still more die, still more lose their lives. 
> 
> No more.)

_I'm not a scholar, I'm not an expert_

_But if you fight fire with fire_

_I'm pretty sure, it only gets worse_

_The flames burn even brighter_

> (Zuko and Azula’s fight is breathtaking, but not in a good way. It does not render you speechless for the right reasons, nor does it spark a joyous feeling in you. It is a terrible and powerful fight. Sibling against sibling, fire against fire, blue against red. You cannot deny the rippling heat that emanates from the two or the moves that could, with the slightest mistake, kill the other. It rips the air from your lungs, freezes your vocal chords, awakens the aching embers of agony in your chest.
> 
> When Azula is finally bested, bawling, broken, and Zuko lies there with an injury that will add another scar to his skin, and Katara, too, adds another scar to the ones made on her heart. When you realize they are only teenagers who have seen more, much more, than most adults, teenagers who have suffered through a century of sorrow, teenagers who had to grow up too fast in a world that's been fighting for too long.
> 
> To fight fire with fire is a fool’s choice.)

_I know that I'm not alone_

_When I say I'm sick of the violence_

_Voice our anger on our phones_

_But in real life we're quiet (shhh)_

> (The hatred of the Fire Nation and its overtaking of the other nations is whispered in hushed voices, in the angry thoughts of those wronged, in furious expressions and clenched fists. But when faced directly with the injustice and annihilation, everyone becomes tight-lipped. In self-preservation and survival, or in cowardice.
> 
> No one has directly challenged the firebenders, and instead, willed that they would lose interest and go away. No one stood up, because those who did were cut down. 
> 
> No one tried.)

_I hope that when, I fast forward_

_Twenty something years_

_We no longer live our days in hatred or in fear_

> (And so, with the defeat of Azula and Ozai, comes the end of the 100 Year War. It’s a confusing time; it’s finally over, but there’s still much to do. The soldiers come home, but there are those who don’t. The nations are no longer fighting, but they’re not united. Not yet.)

_And live to be, kind and free_

_To do unto each other_

_As you'd have 'em do, unto you_

_United undercover_

> (Gone is the age of living in fear and hatred of red and heat. The Avatar and his friends herald in a new age, a new dawn, a new life for the nations. Zuko is crowned Fire Lord, becoming the youngest, and kindest, in centuries. Toph creates a subcategory of earthbending and creates a path for disabled benders such as herself. Sokka and Suki become a ray of hope for non-benders, that their inability is a gateway to other possibilities. Katara erases the misogynistic traditions of the Water Tribe and is named a fearsome warrior and healer in her own right. Aang travels across the lands, stepping into his role as the Avatar and healing the blackened scorch marks left behind.)

_The world is falling down_

_And nothing ever changes_

_1, 2, 3 as the shots ring out_

_But nothing ever changes_

_The world is falling down_

_And nothing ever changes_

_We're all part of a silent crowd_

_'Cause nothing ever changes_

_The world is falling down_

_Nothing ever changes_

_The world is falling down now_

_Nothing ever changes_

_The world is falling down_

_Nothing ever changes_

_The world is falling down now_

_'Cause nothing ever changes_

(But the world doesn’t fall, and eventually, something does change.)

**Author's Note:**

> Writing my thoughts down in here as I write, please ignore if you don't care  
> This is my first time writing a songfic (am I using that term right?) I really hope it doesn't flop  
> Is it normal to listen to the song that inspired this on repeat while writing? No? Just me? Okay  
> I don't know if I'm writing the events correctly, I'm just going off what I remember since the last time I watched it. So like, a week ago basically haha  
> Wow I jump around a lot and read too much into events, sorry for that  
> Omg I didn't write Toph in. Fuck  
> Yes, I skipped the chorus twice because I didn't want to write it, and yes, I wrote this in one night instead of sleeping, thank you


End file.
